So Many Shades of Wrong
by lone-star-woman
Summary: Yet another Rory story. An alien device causes members of team Torchwood Rory to switch bodies, causing Ianto's jealousy to surface. Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Andy/Tosh, Owen/Rory
1. Chapter 1

Place the usual disclaimer here.

Author's note: One month after the events of "The Thing About Love." I'm probably being too self-indulgent with my OC, but this idea just popped into my head, and I couldn't shake it loose.

* * *

**So Many Shades of Wrong**

**Chapter 1: The Mating Habits of…**

"Rory?…Rory?" Jack calls as he and Ianto look around her living room with their guns drawn.

Ianto checks the house security system and compares them to the readings from the rift activity monitor. He whispers, "Two life forms in the bedroom along with traces of rift activity."

Jack taps his Comm, "Owen, are you okay? Are you still in the house? Answer me!" He glances over to Ianto who shakes his head.

As they move upstairs and closer to the bedroom, they detect a bright light coming from behind the door. They hear someone moan, which immediately sends up the red flags.

"Alien life form detected," Ianto says quietly. "But the signal is breaking up like it's being scrambled."

Jack gestures for Ianto to stay flat against the wall and wait for his signal as he kicks the door open and aims his gun.

"Oh, God!" the Captain yells, filling the younger man's head with the worst imaginable thought that something has happened to the doctor or his friend.

Ianto hears Rory scream and rushes into the room. The action is fast, but he still gets a good idea of what has been going on. Owen is knocked off the bed. Rory scrambles to cover herself up. Bursts of light flow sporadically through her body, traveling from her hips and through the rest of her body. Jack has his back turned on the pair of them and tries to recover from the shock.

Rory wraps a bed sheet around her body and rushes to the bathroom to retrieve a washcloth for the blood trickling from her lover's nose. "I am so sorry! I just…"

"It's okay. Not your fault," Owen reassures her. He turns his attention to Jack and Ianto, "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Gwen shouts from the first floor, "Jack? Ianto? Hello?"

"Great!" Owen says, grabbing a pillow with his free hand and placing over his lap while Rory flits around the room, looking for their clothes.

"Up here," Ianto calls out.

Gwen enters the room with Tosh right at her heels. The former police woman takes one look at the scene and bursts out into laughter, "This was the alien activity that you called me about?"

The Welshman scans the room with the rift monitor, "We got an alert that something was coming through the rift at this location."

Jack wordlessly takes a blue and pink kimono from the hook on the closet door and tosses it to Rory. Then, he begins to rummage through her closet.

"What happened to you?" Gwen asks the doctor.

"I got a knee in the nose," Owen mutters as he tries to pull on his pants with one hand.

"How did that happen?" Tosh asks.

"He stuck it right into the center of things, I believe" Ianto says in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh," Tosh says, realizing what Owen had been doing. She looks over at Rory who smiles like the cat who swallowed the canary.

Jack pulls out an alien device from Rory's closet and hands it to Tosh.

"My closet is a rift dumping ground? The estate agent failed to mention that," Rory comments.

"She did say it was spacious," Ianto quips.

"You didn't notice any rift activity?" Gwen asks.

Rory begins to fidget a little. "We were sort of busy, and I had my eyes closed."

"And she…glows," Owen adds. "Brightly."

Ianto sniggers. "I'm surprised that you didn't go blind with your eyes so close to the light."

Tosh and Gwen giggle.

"I think we got what we were looking for," Ianto says politely as Jack exits the room. "Tosh, if you'll come back with us to the hub to take a look at that. Gwen, sorry to interrupt your evening, but I think we've got it covered. Owen, you should probably have someone take a look at your nose. And Rory, sorry we came before you did."

"Shut up, Ianto," Owen growls.

"Couldn't resist. And if you'll excuse us, we're off."

xxxx

"You can at least laugh about it," Ianto insists. "It is pretty funny."

Jack drives the SUV back to the hub a little too fast. "I am going to have that image burned into my brain for a long time."

"It's not as if she's actually your daughter. She's not even a blood relative."

"It's just that I missed so much of her life. One day I'm sitting at the edge of her bed telling her bedtime stories…"

"And the next Dr. Harper is giving her a very intimate pelvic exam?" Tosh jokes from the back seat.

Jack screeches to a halt at a red light.

"You did say that you approved of them dating," Ianto reminds him. "And sometimes if a man really likes a woman, he's willing to make it all about her."

"Personally, I'm never sure how to bring the subject up with my boyfriend," Tosh quips absent-mindedly.

Jack turns his head around and looks at his computer expert. "You have a boyfriend?"

"Green," Tosh says meekly as she points at the light.

"So what's his name?" Jack asks.

"He's not really my boyfriend. I mean, we are sort of dating…"

"Does he know what you do?" Jack insists.

"It's Andy… Davidson…"

"PC Andy? Gwen's Andy?" Jack asks.

"It's not as if he's Gwen's Andy anymore," Tosh replies.

"When did this happen?" Ianto asks happily.

"About a month ago," she says. "We met, at least formally, at a dance class. We just hit it off."

"You can't tell him anything about what we do," Jack warns.

"I know."

"And he's already curious about all of it," Jack says, rubbing his temple.

Ianto gently rubs the Captain's knee. "I'm sure Tosh has it under control."

"If I didn't have you…" Jack says.

"And now we can be happy for Tosh for finding someone," Ianto replies.

"He's your responsibility," Jack says to Tosh.

"Thank you," she replies.

Ianto turns around and winks at her.

xxxx

The next day, Tosh sits inside the boardroom and examines the device that Jack found in the closet.

Ianto hands her a cup of coffee, "Anything yet?"

"Nothing. This is really unlike anything I've ever seen. It's alien tech all right, but, beyond that I don't even know what it does or what its power source is."

"What does Jack say?"

"He's leaving it to me. Right now, he's busy working on a way to close the rift portal in Rory's closet before anything else gets through."

"Hey you!" Rory says cheerfully.

"Hey yourself," Ianto replies as he gives her a small kiss on the cheek. He twirls her around and looks at her cocktail dress, "You didn't do this for us, did you?"

"I figure I owe Owen a nice meal after last night," the alien says looking at the device.

"You don't mind if I hang out here with you lot?" Gwen asks as she enters the room. "Jack is being really weird around Owen."

"He just had too many surprises last night," Ianto laughs.

"He knows," Tosh tells Rory.

"Does he?"

"You knew?" Ianto asks in disbelief. "And you didn't tell me?"

"She told me not to tell, and I'm good at keeping secrets," she replies.

"Knows what?" Gwen inquires.

"Tosh and Andy sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G," Rory sings.

"Andy who?"

"PC Andy," Ianto replies.

"Andy? My Andy?"

Rory wraps her arm around Toshiko. "He belongs to her, now."

"And how's that going?" Gwen asks with a big smile on her face.

"He's very sweet, thoughtful, romantic…"

"But?" Ianto asks.

"The sex…" Rory says. "I keep telling you, sometimes you have to give a little direction."

"I don't want to seem critical," Tosh says.

"Sometimes being told what to do is actually sexy," Ianto points out. "Maybe he's into the strict school marm types."

"The kissing is good, right?" Gwen inquires.

"Yes."

"And you're happy with him?" Gwen asks.

"Yes."

"Please don't say that the sex doesn't matter," Rory begs. "They are both young, healthy adults who should be enjoying themselves."

"It's not that big of a deal," Gwen insists.

Ianto and Rory turn to each other and laugh. "Yeah, it is," Ianto says.

"Easy for you to say," Gwen says defensively. "You're with someone with all sorts of experience."

A small smile forms on his lips. "Ah, but for me, it was all new. There were all sorts of tricks I had to learn, and I have to admit that Jack had to ease me into some of them."

"And sometimes people figure out those tricks together," Rory adds. "The first time I had sex with Owen was really weird for both of us, not bad, but definitely weird. With practice, things got better. Just last week, Owen experienced multiple orgasms for the first time."

"How?" Gwen asks.

With an impish grin, Rory replies, "Sharing certain nerve responses and sensations is one of the perks of being an alien."

"You've had multiple orgasms?" Tosh asks.

"That's another perk about being an alien. I can make it so he doesn't finish until I do."

"He is your bitch, isn't he?" Ianto comments.

"Hey! He's good," she replies. After some thought she adds with a perverse grin, "He's oh so very good."

"Er, Tosh, you have had at least one?" Gwen asks.

"Not with a man."

"But you at least know how to get there," Rory says encouragingly. "And for most women that's half the battle."

"Get him to talk about fantasies," Ianto suggests. "You try one of his. He tries one of yours."

"And try not to over think it," Rory adds.

"Who needs Cosmo when we've got the pair of you?" Gwen quips.

Ianto places his hand on Rory's arm. "We could write our own magazine."

She places her hand over his. "Maybe have our own television show or go on talk radio. Our ratings would be through the roof."

Toshiko answers her ringing cell phone and mouths, "Andy." She steps out of the room and sneaks off to the empty hothouse.

"I seriously can't imagine what sort of fantasies Andy has," Gwen comments.

"Oh, everyone has their inner freak," Rory responds.

"You don't know he the way I know him," Gwen says. "He's just not that type. He takes his grandmother to church every Sunday for crying out loud."

"It's not like he's going to ask Tosh to have sex with him in a carnival funhouse." Ianto replies. "For one thing, he lacks the authority to shut it down for a couple of hours."

Gwen eyes widen so much, they look as if they are about to pop out. "Not everyone else's sex lives are as… creative as yours. I can't even begin to imagine the craziest thing that you've ever done."

"I wouldn't know how to choose," Ianto muses out loud.

Rory chuckles as she looks over the device.

"You're not going to do anything with it?" Gwen asks her.

"Of course not. Just a small scan to take a look at the circuits." The alien runs her fingers along the alien tech. "This is really weird. It's like it's trying to read me as well." She stops quietly and stands with her hand still on the device as if in a catatonic state.

Ianto begins to panic just a bit. "Rory? Say something please!"

Rory gasps loudly and returns to consciousness. "Hey you?" she replies with a shaky voice.

"You okay?" Ianto says, offering her a chair.

"I was in the machine. I left my body, and I went into the machine. I had to fight it to get back into myself."

"What are you talking about?" Gwen asks.

"It's malfunctioning, and it's bad news."

The machine starts to beep erratically until it flashes for one second, emitting a loud tone that momentarily deafens the three.

Jack and Owen rush into the room. The doctor kneels beside Rory and examines her while Jack attends to Gwen and Ianto. Seeing that she's all right, Owen kisses his girlfriend and holds her tightly.

"Owen," Rory says. "I don't think that's me. I think I'm over here."

"Ianto, what are you talking about?" Jack asks.

Ianto looks around the room. "I'm Gwen!"

Gwen realizes that the body she's inside isn't hers. She's in the alien's body. "Jack, this is bad. Very bad!" She anxiously paces around the room, but soon collapses to the floor as if she's been drained of energy.

Owen cradles her in his arms and tries to revive her. "Babe? Talk to me, gorgeous."

Rory, who is inside of Ianto, kneels next to Owen and says, "I'm Rory, and I think that's Gwen."

"I'm a woman," Ianto says calmly.

When she says this, Jack realizes that Gwen wouldn't react this way. She's being too quiet. He looks into her eyes and says, "Ianto?"

Rather than leap into his arms, she presses herself against his body, and Jack knows that somehow, she is his boyfriend.

Tosh enters the room and takes a look around. "What happened here?"


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two:**_

_**What Are the Rules?**_

"Let me get this straight," Tosh says. "Rory is in Ianto's body; Gwen is in Rory's body; and Ianto is in Gwen's body."

"Jack, I am really, really scared here," Gwen says as she tries to recover from her dizziness. "My head is just swimming right now with so much information."

Owen brings up the medical information on the main screen. "The good news is that no damage has been done to any of the bodies. Brains are still perfectly healthy. Rory's body is experiencing some energy surges, but so far they are benign. Gwen's body is in good shape, but her heart rate is a bit elevated. Ianto remains cool as ice."

"How can you be so calm?" Gwen asks Rory.

"Because that's what I've had to learn to do to survive." She sits next to her and tries to be reassuring, "I know being a Light Keeper is really overwhelming at first, but you do learn to tune a lot of it out. The important thing right now is to remain calm."

"How am I supposed to remain calm when I'm stuck inside your body? We don't know how this thing works. We don't even know how this happened!" Gwen shouts, but the energy of her borrowed body spikes again, causing her to double over in pain.

"That's why you have to chill," Rory says in a stern voice. "Gwen, you have an alien body now. You cannot let your emotional energy get out of control, or your body will be out of control."

Jack sits on the other side of the police woman and adds, "She's right, Gwen. You can exhaust yourself." He turns to Rory and says, "Get her something to eat before she her blood sugar drops."

Ianto raises her hand and says stoically, "Over here, Jack. I think we have some biscuits in the cupboard."

Jack nods his head with a confused expression on his face. "That'll be fine… Ianto."

Tosh puts on her glasses and examines the device. "Let's say the machine is an attacker. He goes after Rory, who gets away, but the attacker manages to steal a few pounds from her."

"Where are you going with this analogy, Tosh?" Owen asks.

"I'm saying the device wasn't working until Rory made contact. It managed to keep a piece of her energy for itself, which it used to power itself temporarily."

"But is it broken?" Gwen asks.

"'Fraid so," Rory replies.

"Toshiko, can you fix this?" Jack asks.

She nods, "I think so. I'll start by translating some of the symbols on the device. They might be able to tell us how it functions. Maybe there's something in the language database that will help." Tosh moves to her computer and starts typing.

"Ianto,… I mean, Rory, stay here and help Tosh with whatever she needs."

"Okay, but first, Ianto has to pee," she says sheepishly. There's a slightly apprehensive look on his face, after realizing what it involves.

xxxx

Rory lifts up the seat and looks down at the borrowed crotch, tentatively reaching for the zipper. She takes a deep breath. "All right, here it goes."

After pulling it out, she gasps, "Oh, my! Uncle Jack is one lucky man."

xxxx

Ianto enters Jack's office, holding a cup of coffee.

"Thanks, Gwen," Jack says. But when he remembers that it's his boyfriend inside of Gwen's body, he says, "Sorry, Ianto."

"Not a problem," he replies. He even sits on the edge of the desk in a familiar way.

Jack looks up at him and smiles. "It's occurred to me that everyone else stays on the other side of my desk."

"It's one of my privileges, I suppose."

Jack reaches out to touch Gwen's leg, but pulls his hand back before making contact. Exhaling deeply, Ianto stands up and moves to the other side of the desk..

"I'm gonna need you to look after Gwen," Jack says quietly. "Try to keep her focused."

"Maybe, I should take her home. Rhys will probably be at the flat soon. She might be more relaxed with him."

"Anything. I'd also like you go back to Rory's house and plant a rift key in the closet so we can lock the place up."

"Of course. Jack, what if I don't get my body back?"

"We've got two of the brightest minds in the U.K. working on this."

"What if the device is really broken?"

"We'll figure it out. I promise."

"It's just that… if I'm stuck in here for good… will I have to have sex with Rhys? He's an okay guy, but not really what I look for in a lover."

Jack snorts with laughter and stands in front of Ianto. He cups her face in his hands. "It's really you in there."

"And don't you forget it," Ianto replies.

xxxx

Meanwhile, Gwen reaches out to touch an electric pencil sharpener. When she makes contact, the motor begins to spin wildly and begins to burn out. She jumps away from it, but her hand lands on her keyboard causing her computer to open all of her programs and freeze up. Tosh gets up from her station and attends to the computers.

Owen takes her by the wrist. "All right, that's enough of that." He places Rory's watch back on her wrist, tenderly. He holds her hand without looking in her eyes. If she was the real Rory, he would pull her on his lap and twirl her about on the chair with her legs dangling off of the arm.

"Well, howdy," Rory says seeing the two together.

Gwen stands up quickly and says, "I was just …"

"It's okay," Rory replies with a flippant shrug.

"I tried to make contact. All those circuits just swimming in my head…"

"Kind of like trying to read a book written in Chinese symbols?" the alien asks as she works at Tosh's computer.

"Yes."

She smiles sympathetically. "Thought so. Connecting with people is easier. It's pretty instinctual."

Ianto gestures to Gwen and says, "Come on, we're going back to Rory's for a small task."

"And then?" she asks.

"We'll call you as soon as you we've got anything," Tosh reassures her.

"So I'm being sent home?" Gwen asks. "What if something happens?"

"Then you'll get excited, and you'll be useless to all of us," Owen says, trying to be supportive, but sounding slightly annoyed.

"Emotion is just energy. I can learn to channel it," she insists.

"Be realistic, Gwen," Owen remarks. "Let's say you do manage such a feat that took Rory weeks to master. By that time, she and Tosh have the machine sussed, and you're back in your own body free to bitch and moan as much as your little heart desires."

"Not helping, Owen," Jack retorts.

"But he's right," Rory says.

Gwen looks at the floor like a chastised teen. "Let's go," she mumbles.

After everyone else has left the room, Owen turns to Tosh and says, "The real Rory would have made a sarcastic remark."

xxxx

Jack peeks inside the boardroom where Rory is trying to figure out the device. She's taken off the jacket and tie and has the sleeves of Ianto's shirt rolled up. The top buttons of the shirt are undone, revealing a glimpse of the Welshman's collarbone. She leans over the table to rearrange some of the notes that she and Tosh have made. Jack watches her through the doorway. He imagines wrapping his arms around Ianto's waist and whispering something dirty in his ear. He licks his lips thinking about how much he would love to stick his hand down his lover's pants and toy with him until he became hard. The Welshman would shudder in his arms and kiss him violently. Then the clothes would come off and Ianto's on his back, ready to be fucked senseless. Jack finds the urge to move closer almost overpowering.

Rory stands up straight and turns around to face Jack. "Uncle Jack, what are you staring at?" she asks, slightly intimidated by the answer.

Jack doesn't reply. The flustered expression on his face says it all.

Rory crosses Ianto's arms over his chest. "That is so many shades of wrong."

Jack clears his throat and says, "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."

"Right," she replies as Ianto's face turns red_._

xxxx

Ianto sits on the sofa, drinking a cup of tea and watching Rhys pace around Gwen's flat in exasperation.

"I almost kissed him!" Rhys shouts, pointing to the man who looks like Gwen.

"You don't have to be so indignant about it. I've been told that I'm a very good kisser," he replies, rolling her eyes.

Gwen places her hands on Rhys's shoulder. "Look at me. It's still me inside of this body. Your Gwen."

"This is just a bit too much," he replies, sitting next to Ianto. They look at each other awkwardly.

"How do you think I feel?" Gwen asks as she winces in the overloaded alien body. "I hate being trapped in here."

"At least you get to wear couture," Ianto quips. "That's a Marc Jacob dress you have on and Jimmy Choos on your feet."

"Ianto, if I could switch bodies with you right now, you know I would."

"I'm just trying to remind you that your situation is not entirely bad."

Rhys throws up his hands. "All right! I think I've got it from here, mate."

Ianto stands up and picks up an overnight bag with a few articles of Gwen's clothing. "Thank you for the tea," he says formally with a small tip of her head.

"You're going back to the hub?" Gwen asks.

Rhys's eyes widen. "With Jack?"

"He will be there."

"Just tell him to keep his mitts off. That's still Gwen's body!"

Ianto wishes that he'd never gotten out of bed that morning. "Got that loud and clear. Take care, Gwen," he says before leaving.

Gwen sits on the sofa, shaking and crying. Rhys takes her in his arms and kisses the top of her head.

"I'm so tired. I've been in this body three hours, and I'm so exhausted. I'm trying to keep it together, but I don't know how much longer I can take this."

"I'll run you a bath, and light some candles. Wait a minute - you're not going to electrocute yourself, are you?"

"She's waterproof, so it should be okay. But not yet. Could we just stay here for a bit longer?"

"Anything you'd like."

Gwen closes her eyes and snuggles into Rhys's chest, finding his arms soothing. Rhys tries not to tense up, but that uncomfortable feeling of being so intimate with a stranger is inevitable. Yet, he doesn't move and just strokes her arm.

She looks up at him. "Do you trust me, Rhys?"

"Of course, you daft, silly cow."

She takes off the watch and touches him. As her fingers glow, Rhys asks, "What is going on?"

"I just wanted to try it. You have a spot of indegestion. Why didn't you mention that?"

"You felt that?"

"Yeah." She pauses for a bit. "Rhys…"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

"The sex is supposed to be mind-blowing. She even bragged about it earlier this evening."

"No."

"It would be one way to relax."

Rhys shakes his head. "We couldn't."

"It would be an experience… but you're right."

"You're supposed to keep calm."

"I know." They both sit in silence, staring into space until Gwen says, "It wouldn't really be cheating. You would still be sleeping with me."

"But I just told Ianto -"

She attacks him, pinning him to the sofa and running her glowing hands all over his body. Rhys gasps at the realization that she's aroused and that he's just felt it as if it were his own body. They kiss with even more passion, fumbling about with their clothes like a couple of teenagers.

xxxx

Owen walks into the boardroom and laughs to himself when he sees Rory asleep on the table. He shakes the body that she's possessed gently to wake her up. "Come on, gorgeous, let's get you home."

She stands up and stretches. "Still calling me gorgeous even though I look like this?"

"Ianto is actually a pretty good looking man. Don't tell him I said that."

"It'll be the first thing I say when I see him." She leans over to kiss him, but hesitates.

"I'll close my eyes," Owen offers.

She kisses him on the lips. "How weird was that?"

He steps back and rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Well, the stubble is strange; and it's odd that you're suddenly taller than I am; but not as weird as Jack busting in on us last night."

"Imagine the expression on his face if he walked in on you kissing his boyfriend."

Owen sits on the chair and sighs. "Why'd I ever get involved with you?"

"Because you like a challenge. It's one of your more endearing qualities."

"You know, I even e-mailed a picture of you to my mum a few days ago and told her about the hot girl I'm dating. Good thing she's not one of those mothers who's terribly involved in her son's life. Otherwise, she'd want to meet you straightaway. Imagine if she met you looking like this."

"She hasn't replied, has she?"

"What do you think? And don't say that maybe she hasn't checked her mail. I hate false optimism," he mutters bitterly.

"I wasn't going to say that," she murmurs while mussing up his hair. "You, er… want some company tonight?"

Looking over Ianto's body, he says, "I don't know."

"Get your mind out of the gutter. What I meant was a quick bite to eat and then off to bed - to sleep." She yawns, stretching out Ianto's slim frame. "That's the problem with being human again. You people tire so easily."

"Just sleep? We haven't done that."

"I know," she says with a flicker of an eyebrow. "Kinky."

Owen groans at her comment. "Grab your … I mean … Ianto's coat."

xxxx

Ianto opens the door to bedroom that he and Jack put together in the hub and finds him lying on their bed, reading a book. "Thought I'd find you in here."

Jack mentally reminds himself that the person who just entered his room is Ianto and not Gwen. "Thought you'd gone home already."

"It's strange. I find it difficult to go home without a kiss goodnight."

"You know what?"

"What?" Ianto asks as he sits on the edge of the bed.

"I've gotten used to that myself. Not that you ever go home alone too often."

Ianto stops and thinks about it. "Well, no." Suddenly, he frowns.

"What's wrong."

"Eyebrows not working as they should."

Jack laughs and sits up. He touches Gwen's face as if trying to make one of her eyebrows go up. "Not happening."

"First, Rhys tries to kiss me, and now this. How am I supposed to communicate with a faulty brow?" Ianto says sarcastically.

"Rhys tried to kiss you?" Jack says with a huge grin.

"Yes, and he had the audacity to complain about kissing me when he had a bit of marinara sauce on the corner of his mouth."

"It's so sad when old couples let themselves go like that."

"He also says that you're to keep your mitts off Gwen's body."

Jack laughs and pulls him down on the bed with him. "So if I were to cop a feel, like this," he says as he places a hand on Gwen's breast, "Would that be cheating?"

"God help me, but that feels good." Ianto takes the Captain's hand away from his borrowed body. "Yes, it's cheating. I promised Rhys."

"But I know it's you," Jack says, longingly. They lie on different sides of the bed, staring into each others eyes and not touching.

"If we do something, you'll have slept with Gwen. When we get back into ourselves, you'll still know what it is to see her naked. It might change the way you look at her."

"You are possessive."

"Maybe not one of my better qualities, but yes, I am," Ianto murmurs.

"So what am I supposed to do all by myself?" Jack whines.

Ianto tosses him a bottle of lube. "Knock yourself out."

"Thanks a lot," Jack says as he stands up and removes his clothes, slowly. He pulls out a porno magazine from under the bed and stretches himself out on duvet.

"Of course, I am also very generous in other ways." Ianto takes out a white satin scarf from the nightstand drawer and tosses it to Jack who covers his eyes with it. "And remember keep your mitts off of Gwen just like I promised Rhys."

Jack moans as he feels a hot mouth travel down his body. However, when he reaches to touch Gwen's hair, Ianto stops and pushes his hands away. Jack clutches the head board instead while the Welshman takes him using Gwen's mouth.

Ianto tells himself it may be her tongue, but it's his technique that he's honed together after months of paying attention to Jack's cues, which has never been difficult to do. He always finds something achingly beautiful about the sound of his voice and his breath or the way his sculpted muscles contract while he's in the throes of passion. However, as much as he'd like to distance himself from Gwen, he feels her body becoming aroused from the intense satisfaction he gets from feeling Jack build to a climax.

As Jack reaches his orgasm, he cries, "Oh, Gwen."

Ianto raises his head and sees that the blindfold has fallen. He immediately gets up from the bed and wipes his mouth.

Jack removes the scarf from his neck and says, "I'm sorry, Ianto. I just got confused. This whole evening hasn't been easy."

Ianto doesn't say a word and slips out of the room. Jack quickly pulls on a pair of boxers and runs after him, "Ianto, please come back. Let me make this up to you."

He doesn't give Jack that satisfaction, nor does he see the point of starting a row. Part of it was his fault, he should have just left after Jack put his hand on her breast. All he wants is to go home and try to forget about the indiscretion.

xxxx

"What was that?" Rhys asks as he lies on the bed.

"That was incredible," Gwen says as the alien body she possesses glows in post-coital bliss. For the first time since the accidental switching happened, she feels content. More than content - she feels alive.

"Holy Mother of God, that was intense…" Rhys shouts.

"Yeah. Want another go?"

"I can't. I'm wiped out." Rhys kisses her and settles under the sheets. "How long do you think you're gonna glow like that?"

"Don't really know. Is it a problem?"

"Sort of. Like trying to sleep next to a neon sign."

"Maybe I should just go into the kitchen. Suddenly, I'm very hungry."

"Yeah," Rhys replies with a yawn.

When she closes the door, some of the anxiety comes back as she thinks to herself, _What have I done?_

xxxx

Owen watches Ianto's body as it sleeps peacefully in the bed beside him. Although Rory sat patiently while listening him to rant about his mother and about Jack, he still misses her. He tugs on the sheet, trying to claim a bit more for himself, but finds it difficult since Ianto is so much heavier than Rory. Still. Sleeping with his girlfriend in a man's body is better than sleeping alone.

xxxx

The Captain touches the side of the bed where his lover should be. His scent it still on the pillow. His copy of _Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters _waits for him on the nightstand. Jack smiles to himself when he opens the book and sees that Ianto hasn't gotten very far. It's not that Ianto doesn't like J.D. Salinger. Quite the contrary. He loves _Catcher in the Rye _and _Franny and Zooey_. If Ianto hasn't gotten very far, Jack is to blame. The younger man always finds it hard to concentrate when Jack ghosts his fingertips very lightly along his hips. He tries to ignore it or pushes Jack away, but that only encourages the Captain. Soon, Ianto has to contend with a tongue flicking his earlobe and a hand rubbing his member. His willpower absolutely collapses, and the fictional life of Buddy Glass takes a back seat to the real life of Jack Harkness. Afterwards, Ianto complains aloud about Jack's very bad manners, but the satisfied look in his eyes tell another story. Sometimes, he yawns, and Jack turns off the lamp so that he can sleep. Other times, he finds the book again and picks up from where he left off. But usually, Ianto curls up next to Jack, and they talk about anything. Jack always enjoys the sex, but he's begun to crave the intimacy that the younger man offers.

Jack dresses himself and goes back in the boardroom. He looks over Tosh and Rory's notes and examines the device again, hoping to see something that they'd overlooked, glad that he doesn't need sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:**

**A Morning of Regrets**

_Just how do you get dressed without looking? _Ianto mulls over the question from the moment he steps into his bathroom that morning while still in Gwen's body. _Blind people do it all the time so it is possible. Touching, however, is necessary, even if there's nothing inherently sexy about it. Although, she is attractive. _

But she's Gwen, and Jack called her name last night.

He tries to get through the shower as quickly as possible and in the process neglects to shave her legs and underarms. _Doesn't matter. She's wearing a t-shirt and jeans, _he thinks to himself as he puts on her bra. He's seen women do it before countless of times, yet he squirms in the process as he tries to work with the underwire. _There. They're both in place. Hard part's over with. _And then he looks at the tangled mess of hair and the make-up bag before him.

When he's done, he takes a long look at himself in the mirror. Gwen's face in a thick layer of foundation make-up, heavy eye-liner and shadow, clownishly bright blush and lipstick stares back at him. Her hair lies flat and life-less on her head. _I've made Gwen look like a cheap prostitute; I've made a mess of my bathroom; and I am running late. Jack will understand if I'm just a few minutes late. Of course, he will want his coffee soon. _He washes her face and decides against a second attempt. _Doesn't matter. She's going to work, not a beauty competition._

xxxx

"So, you don't find anything weird about washing Ianto's body?" Owen asks while Rory is in the shower. He poses the question partly in an effort to get her to stop singing "Milkshake" by Kelis with Ianto's voice. However, he is also motivated, in part, by an odd sense of jealousy.

"I'm just trying to be pragmatic. He needs a shower, and I don't want to hand his body back in worse shape than he's left it. That would be rude." She stops the water and cracks open the door. "Towel, please."

Owen hands her one, but doesn't let it go right away. "Is he bigger than me?"

"Does it matter?"

"I just want to know."

"You've never had a look?"

"When would I look?"

"I don't know. A medical examination. Standing next to him in the men's room. Last night as I slept…"

"No! I've never…" Owen shouts as he lets go of the towel.

Rory wraps the towel around Ianto's body and steps out of the shower. As she pulls on Ianto's underwear, she notices Owen trying to take a peek at the Welshman's package and hides it from view. Next, she steps over to the sink for a shave. She confidently puts on the lotion and pulls out the razor.

"Need any help?" Owen asks.

"I know how it's done. I have shaved a man before."

Owen leans on the door and watches her. He laughs when he watches Rory cut Ianto's face. "All right," she admits. "It's been a while since I've done it."

After putting on his suit with care, she spins around for Owen's benefit and sashays around the bedroom. "How do I look?" she asks.

"With that walk, not very manly."

She does a body builder pose and growls just to make her boyfriend laugh. "Better?"

Owen snickers. "Let's just get breakfast, okay."

She slaps the doctor's ass and says, "Let's." She tries to twirl, but finds it awkward in a larger body and ends up hitting the door.

"Come on before you hurt yourself, gorgeous," Owen says as he leads Ianto's body into the kitchen.

xxxx

_Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, _Gwen thinks to herself as she steps out of the shower while Rhys watches. He looks away quickly, but it's quite obvious he got another eyeful. _If only Rory hadn't bragged the day before, if only she'd never made contact with that machine… Why'd I sleep with him in this body?_

"Oh, God," she says as she grips the sink. The thought just keep looping through her head which is already muddled by a sensory overload. "People should never be so aware of how a message travels though the nervous system. It's like having a slight electric current flowing through my body all of the time."

"Does it hurt?"

_Only when I'm upset, _she thinks to herself. "Not really. It's just tingly."

"If my opinion counts for anything, I think that you should stay in."

"Right, and prove to everyone that I can't handle this situation… Oh, boy," Gwen cries as another wave hits her.

"You were saying?" Rhys says as he helps her into the bedroom.

"You're right. I'll stay here until they call me."

"I'll stay home with you."

Gwen shakes her head, "No, just go. I'll manage."

"Are those Wonder Woman knickers?" Rhys says as he spots a pair of Rory's underwear on the bed.

"Yes, if that woman has a sensible pair, they must have fallen through the rift. The ones I found were either very lacy or had comic book characters on them."

"Ohh," Rhys says with a sexy chuckle as he picks them up.

Gwen grabs them from him and escorts him out the door before he gets another peek at the alien's body.

xxxx

Ianto walks into the hub before anyone else just as he always does. He's determined that being Gwen will not affect this punctuality, nor will it keep him from performing his daily tasks to the best of his abilities.

Jack watches him awkwardly as he prepares to feed the Weevils. "Maybe I should do that," he offers.

"It's my job."

"Yeah, but they're used to the tall, strong, handsome Welshman, not the short, girly Welshwoman. They might tear you apart looking like that."

"Worried about what might happen to Gwen?"

"I'm worried about what might happen to you. About last night, Ianto… I can't tell you how sorry I am."

"It passed."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," he says curtly. "And you're right. Maybe you should take care of this mess this time around," Ianto adds, handing over the bucket of food to Jack.

Later that morning, when Rory walks into the boardroom, Jack fights the urge to kiss Ianto's lips even though Rory did a fantastic job of making him look good - not that it takes much effort. Ianto could walk into the room dressed in ratty clothes and unshaven, and the Captain would still want to ravish him on the spot. However, the bounce in his niece's step reminds him of who is inside of that body.

Tosh enters as well. "Any luck?"

"I was thinking about what you said yesterday about being in the machine and having to struggle to get out," he says as he points to Rory. "We may have a soul catcher. This device will literally suck the consciousness out a person's body. If Rory is right and if this machine is malfunctioning, maybe it pulled everyone's soul out and spit them back out into the wrong body."

"To what purpose?" Tosh asks.

"Could be a way to steal secrets," Jack speculates. "You could also render someone defenseless this way."

Rory looks up at the Captain. "What if switching bodies is its purpose?"

"You said it was malfunctioning," Jack says.

The alien speaks in a low voice. "There's a problem with the power function. That's certain, but I got scared when I was inside. Fear makes it harder to get a good read on any device."

Toshiko paces through the room. "If she's right, a dying person could switch with a healthy person. Do it enough times, and a person could theoretically…" Her voice gets very quiet as well. "Could theoretically…"

Jack finishes the statement for her, even if the words make him slightly uneasy. "Live forever."

Ianto walks into the room with a tray full of coffee, trying to maneuver as best he can in a foreign body. "Coffee anyone?"

xxxx

After Jack explains their theories about the purpose of the device, Ianto sits quietly in the Captain's office. Finally, he reaches for a file and says, "I should put this in the archive."

Jack places his hand over the file to keep Ianto in the room. "Is that all you have to say?"

"What do you want me to say?" the Welshman asks.

"Just what's on your mind."

"After Tosh and Rory have this thing figured out and we're back in our own bodies, what do you plan to do with this device?"

"If we could get it to work consistently, we could use it for undercover missions."

"I suppose we could," Ianto says quietly.

After an uncomfortable silence, Jack asks, "What if we could use this device to prolong your life?"

"At the expense of someone else's life? Isn't that what Suzie tried to do with Gwen?"

"What if it was someone who was truly reprehensible?"

"Right. You find a time machine, and let's go back to 1939 Berlin so I can swap bodies with Hitler. And presto! Six million Jews are safe, and Europe can rest easy," Ianto says sarcastically.

"This discussion is just hypothetical."

"Hypothetical? You can use that word when I look like this? From my standpoint, it's not so hypothetical. It's bad enough that I'm trapped in Gwen's body, now you're talking about swapping my body with a criminal."

"I was with you last night. Not Gwen."

"But you called out her name. I look like her. I sound like her. I don't know, but maybe I even give blow jobs like her."

"I wouldn't know about that last one. You know that Gwen and I have never -"

"But you can't tell me that when you look at this body, you don't see her."

"We're all trying to adjust to this situation, Ianto."

"I just want my body back. I want to feel like a man again. I want you to touch me without the confusion."

"I thought that you'd be happy to hear that I that I was more interested in your mind than your body, that I would do whatever it takes to spend eternity with you. Ianto, I… I…" Jack can feel those words in his throat, but they just won't come out.

"You can't say it, can you?"

"You've never said it to me before."

"Because I've always been scared. What if I say the words, and you can't say them to me?"

"Ianto, I…"

"You don't have to say anything." He looks down at Gwen's hands. "I don't want you to say anything right now. It's hardly the time to have this discussion. I'm sorry I brought it up"

Jack embraces Ianto, and that familiar desire fills the younger man's body. As much as he want to kiss Jack, he can't bring himself to do it in Gwen's body. "I really would like to put that file in the archives right now," he whispers.

Jack pulls away and nods. "When you're done, you should probably order lunch. Maybe sandwiches. You know, something light."

"Yes, of course."

xxxx

Tosh's mobile rings as she and Rory look over the circuit diagrams of the device. She answers the phone with a shy smile. "Hi, Andy."

"You know, phone sex is kind of fun," Rory suggests.

"Shh," Tosh replies.

"There's the sound of the sweetest voice I've ever heard," he purrs. "Hello, princess. I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too. I'm sorry about the last couple of nights. We've just had these emergencies -"

"That you can't talk to me about. I know."

"You're being so patient with me."

"Patience is my middle name. Actually, it's Steven, but it should be Patience unless you think it's too girly."

Tosh giggles.

He continues, "Well, you can call me just about anything you want if you come over to my place for a home cooked meal tonight."

"I don't know how late I'm going to be here. This project is very urgent, and I don't want to let the team down."

"Is it so urgent? It's been two nights this week alone. I don't want to have to grovel, but I will. I'll even grovel to your boss if I have to. Shouldn't we be at that stage where we can't keep our hands off of each other?"

"I'll see."

"You'll see. You're actually making me identify with Rhys," Andy whines. "I never thought I'd be in the same club as him."

"You know how much I'd like to spend an evening with you."

Rory chimes in. "Jack and I will cover for you!"

"Who's that?" Andy asks.

"No one," she replies.

"Oh, so now I'm no one," Rory mutters. "Well, I never!"

"What time should I come over?"

"Eight o'clock would be great. Bring your appetite."

"I will."

"See you then," he murmurs.

"Bye." Tosh says as she hangs up.

"You are too cute when you're on the phone with him," Rory comments.

"Shut up, Ianto," Tosh replies, dreamily.

xxxx

Gwen tried to stay away. She tried yoga and meditation to relax her nerves. She tried to keep herself busy and clean house. She broke a toaster and a blender in an attempt to learn to use the alien abilities. Nothing worked, and so Gwen Cooper finds herself opening the cog door to the hub.

Owen looks up at her and smiles briefly when he sees his lover's face. The smile fades when he notices that Gwen is dressed in her own clothes and not the alien's.

"I thought that you were going to stay home until we've got the device fixed," the doctor mutters.

"I just don't know what to do with myself."

"Well, as long as you're here, why don't I look you over?" he offers, escorting her to the autopsy room.

"Shouldn't Rory be at work?" Gwen asks Owen as he prepares to examine her.

"I sent an e-mail to Rory's assistant, saying that she had the stomach flu. I reckon vomit and a contagious disease will keep them away."

"And it probably helps if she has doctor boyfriend to take care of her."

"That too. Okay, it's scanning time." He reads the information on his screen. "Blood pressure is vastly improved. Your energy levels are still a bit higher than I'd like, but they are a bit more manageable. You seem much more relaxed than you were yesterday. I guess spending an evening with Rhys must have done you a world of good."

Gwen smiles weakly at the statement, but can't contain a surge of negative energy.

"That was odd," Owen says. "I mentioned Rhys and you experienced a small surge."

"He was understandably upset about what happened."

"But the poor sod eventually took it all in stride, didn't he?"

"Something like that. You probably understand how he must have felt."

"I can't say I'm too keen about the situation, but I think that Rory and I tried to make the best of it. We went back to my flat and ended up talking until she fell asleep, and as much as I would have liked to have had an uninterrupted shag, it was nice - strange, but nice." He looks at the monitor with a smirk on his face. "Gwen Bloody Cooper, you are not such a school girl that the word 'shag' embarrasses you. There, it is again."

"There's what again?"

"The same spike when I say 'shag.' I have got to tell Jack about this. You'll never hear the end of it," he laughs. He looks up at her face and sees the guilty look on her face.

"Owen, I…"

"What did you do?"

"It's this body. It makes me feel so out of control, but when I connected with Rhys, he made me feel safe. It was incredible. I felt so alive, but at the same time so focused."

"You bloody didn't!" he shouts. When Gwen grimaces, he lowers his voice. "That's my girlfriend's body. For Christ sake's, you let Rhys sleep with my girlfriend."

"It didn't matter when you and I slept together, but when Rhys sleeps with your girlfriend, the rules all change, do they?" Gwen shouts.

"You probably shouldn't get worked up like that. I suggest you take a deep breath and count to ten," says a masculine voice with a Welsh accent. Gwen and Owen look up and see Ianto's body standing at the top of the stairs. However, the hurt and confused look in his eyes is all Rory.

"Rory, I am so sorry, I…" Gwen says.

"You and Owen?"

"It meant nothing," Gwen insists.

"We think we've come up with a solution," the alien says quietly. "I just wanted to call you into the lab."

"Rory, please," the doctor stammers. "It was before you and I met."

"If you'll excuse us, Owen, we'd like to sort all of this out."

"I'll go with you."

"I'd rather you didn't," Rory says stoically before leaving the room.

xxxx

"Okay, guys," Toshiko says with a clever little smile as Jack, Rory, Ianto and Gwen sit at the table. "We managed to fix the power glitch for the device, and we think that we've decoded the symbols for each of the control buttons."

"You think?" Gwen asks.

"We couldn't find the exact translation in the database, but we think that we've found a similar dialect," Tosh explains.

"I for one am ready to get out of here," Ianto says. "No offense, Gwen."

"None taken," she replies, feeling the need to get out of Rory's body as quickly as possible.

"Here we go," Tosh says as she pushes several buttons to aim the device at the three victims. With a nervous grin, she pushed the final button to activate it. Once again, the high-pitched squeal from the machine fills the room. To make matters worse, when it tries to take Jack's soul, the device overloads and breaks down.

As soon as he's got his hearing back, Jack takes a look around the room and asks, "Is everything all right?"

"No! Everything is not fucking all right!" Gwen yells.

Jack looks at her and asks, "What's wrong, Ianto?"

"I'm not bloody Ianto. That's what's wrong. I'm Gwen."

"I'm over here, Jack," Ianto says miserably.

Jack shudders as he realizes that Ianto now occupies Tosh's body. "Where's Toshiko?"

"Inside of Rory," she answers weakly. "Oh, my head."

"And I had to be trapped in Gwen's body," Rory cries. "Brilliant."

Jack looks over his own body. "At least I'm still me." The others all shoot him a dirty look.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N**__: Just to re-cap. Ianto is now in Toshiko's body. Gwen is in Ianto's body. Tosh is in Rory's body. Rory is in Gwen's body._

* * *

_**Chapter Four:**_

_**Who Do You Love?**_

"At least everyone is alive," Jack insists as he looks at his dejected team plus Rory.

"And healthy," Owen adds.

"I'm supposed to see Andy tonight," Tosh murmurs quietly.

"You're handling Rory's body better than Gwen did," Owen tells the computer expert.

"Of course she is," Rory says. "She's smarter than Gwen and lacks her emotional diarrhea."

Jack shoots his niece a look.

"Oh, come on. It's true," Rory replies with a matter-of-fact tone. "Gwen doesn't know the first thing about engineering."

"You should still apologize," Jack comments.

"It's okay, Jack," Gwen says, patting him on the arm.

His lover's hand is reassuring for about a second until he looks at Tosh's face and sees Ianto's discomfort written all over it. Jack smiles at him, but the Welshman turns away.

Rory notices the interaction between the three and announces, "I need a walk outside to clear my head."

Owen looks at her and says, "Gwen…I mean…"

Rory scoffs and exits the room.

"Fuck," Owen says under his breath, but Tosh hears it anyway. "Let's go where I can get a better look at you," he says to her gently. They leave the room.

"Gwen, is there anything going on between you and Rory?" Jack asks. "It's not really like her to be so blatantly rude."

"None of us are feeling like ourselves," Ianto quips.

"It's between the two of us," Gwen replies.

"Well, whatever it is, I hope that the two of you can move past it," Jack says. "If you'll excuse us, I need to speak with Tosh…I mean Ianto, alone."

"What am I to do in the meantime?" she asks.

"There's still some admin that you need to take care of, isn't there?" Jack suggests.

Gwen nods and leaves the room.

Jack sits next to Ianto and sighs. "I'd like to ask you something."

"Not another of your hypothetical questions."

"No. If the girls don't resolve this situation by this evening, I'd like you go on that date with Andy."

"Something tells me that you're not faintly interested in protecting their relationship."

"I'd like you to figure out how much he knows about Torchwood and set up the monitoring devices on his apartment."

"You want me to spy," Ianto says, not at all surprised by the request.

"Andy is curious. He wants to know about us, what we do, and how we operate. I don't want to find out later that he was using Toshiko to get to us."

"Personally, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about, but you are still my boss, regardless of our personal relationship, and if this small mission will set your mind at ease, I suppose that I will have to do this for you. Now, the question is…"

"What?"

"How far do I have to go in order to complete my mission?"

"Meaning?"

"They are physically involved. Maybe you can look at me and see beyond Tosh's body, but Andy won't be able to do the same. What if he wants to have sex?"

"Use your best judgment."

"So you have no problems with another man touching your boyfriend?"

"You must be insane if you think that I'd actually be threatened by someone like Andy. What could he possibly offer you that I can't?" Jack says with a confident grin. "You know, Toshiko has never looked sexier. I wonder what got into her?"

"That's not as funny as you'd like to think, sir."

"Sir? You know it drives me crazy when you call me that. Good thing she wore a skirt today." His hand creeps up Tosh's skirt.

"What are you up to?"

"About mid thigh. Tell me to stop, Ianto."

"Remember what I said about seeing Gwen naked. Same applies to Toshiko."

"I'm not going to see her naked. I'm just going to feel my way around." He moves his hand just a bit higher. "Tell me to stop, Ianto."

Ianto locks eyes with his lover. "Someone could walk into the room, specifically the owner of this body."

"I know. Tell me to stop, Ianto."

"What about last night? What if you get confused again?"

"There's no confusion here. Toshiko's body may be the vessel, but the pleasure is all yours, Ianto. Tell me stop."

The Welshman stands up and, for a second, it appears that he is about to leave the room. Instead, he leans against the table, which is enough to give the older man the green light.

Jack gets out of his chair and presses his body against his lover's. "Interesting thing about the clitoris," he says while massaging this spot. "Do you know how it works, Ianto?"

The Welshman can only gasp and hikes up Tosh's skirt.

"Well, the penis needs to trap blood in its artery to remain hard, and the clitoris also needs to fill itself with blood to expand. However, the blood will rush in and out of this little spot right here." Jack pauses to move his hand inside the underwear. "It can distend and relax, distend and relax, over and over. And that's why a woman can just keep on cumming."

Ianto begins to grind into Jack's hand.

"It's estimated that there are around eight thousand nerve fibers in the clitoris. That's twice the fibers that are in the penis. Wouldn't you say that's amazing, Ianto?"

Ianto nods as Jack steps up his efforts. He's aware that his lover is still talking, but he hardly cares anymore. He wants to moan out loud, but fears that he'll only draw attention to the pair of them. And yet, the thought of almost getting caught only fuels his excitement.

"There's that look in your eyes, Ianto. It's the one I know and love just before you are about to cum."

The Welshman grips onto his lover's shoulder and holds on for dear life as Tosh's hips begin to shudder. Jack quietly withdraws his hand after giving Ianto a taste of how a woman's body can feel.

"Well, I should go find Rory if we're going to have this thing fixed by this evening. If you'll excuse me," Jack says as he leaves the room.

"Yeah, sure," Ianto says as he regains his composure.

xxxx

"All right, how bad is it?" Owen asks Tosh as they sit in the autopsy room.

"Not too terrible," she replies.

"Tosh, it's just me. You don't have to be strong. You can tell me."

"Everything is really intense. Every sensation, every emotion. So much clutter. I haven't felt so overwhelmed since…"

"What?"

"The pendant."

"Now's not the time to think about that mess. Just focus on sorting out that contraption. And Rory's right; if there's any human who can handle that body, it's you," Owen says as he reconfigures his equipment. He looks up at her, and seeing his girlfriend's face, he reaches up and touches her face. He even begins to stroke her hair and runs his hand behind her neck. However, when Tosh blushes and smiles shyly instead of pulling him closer and toying with him, he's brought back to reality. He turns away from her and begins a proper physical.

"You know, Rory's eyes usually light up when she's in the same room with you, but just right now, she couldn't bring herself to look at you," Tosh says nervously.

"She found out about me and Gwen."

"Oh."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, no woman likes to have to deal with an ex of her current boyfriend, and it's no secret that Rory really doesn't like Gwen very much to begin with."

"What happened with Gwen wasn't exactly a relationship. It was a part-time shag."

"It went on for weeks. It was hardly casual."

"It was out of loneliness. Because I couldn't stand to see her so happy with her bloke when I had no one to go home to."

"So that makes the whole thing between the two of you easier to take?"

"I'm not saying that," Owen replies.

"But you were attracted to Gwen, weren't you?"

"Well, yeah. Okay, I'll admit that."

"Do you still fancy her?"

"No!" he insists. "I'm with you, and I want to make this work." He kisses her passionately with his hands behind her neck. He begins to move his hands down her back and onto her hips.

For a moment, Tosh feels pleasure vibrating through her body, but it's quickly replaced by the sharp sting of remorse. She pulls away quickly.

"Tosh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… I got mixed up. This is unbelievable. It's my first real argument with Rory, and you're not her."

"You must really like her," she says.

"She's brilliant and curious and… sexy. She's never afraid to ask what she wants."

_Unlike me_, Tosh thinks to herself. " If she's worth it, Owen, don't let her go."

"Yeah, well, it's not up to me, is it?"

"What you don't know about women," Tosh says under her breath as the doctor looks over his computer screen.

When Owen's not looking, Tosh touches her lips, thinking about the kiss that just took place between them. Andy is gentle and affectionate, but none of his kisses carry the same animalistic urgency. Owen had just kissed her like they were the only two people in the world, like he could rip her clothes off and take her right there in the autopsy room. Well, not her…Owen wanted his girlfriend, the very woman who tells Toshiko that she should be more assertive with Andy and even take control every now and then. As she sits in the body of someone who seemingly has the whole world at her fingertips, she begins to wonder if she could ever become that sort of person. Or was she in fact Catholic and grateful, as Owen had once thought about her?

xxxx

Gwen finishes up her report and clicks save. She loosens up Ianto's tie, wondering how he can come into work day in and day out dressed the way he does when she finds the suit to be so constricting. She also glances up at the cog door waiting for her Rory to come back. She tries telling herself that all the alien needs is a short walk, and she'll be back - focused and ready to tackle anything. However, Rory's angry, justifiably so, and Gwen knows that it's her fault. She decides that maybe the best course of action would be to find her and clear the air. _Rory is a reasonable being_, Gwen thinks to herself. _She will listen to what I have to say._

She doesn't have to walk very far along the pier to find Rory.

At first the alien smiles at the sight of her friend walking towards her, but she reminds herself that it isn't Ianto. It's Gwen. She turns away and takes a deep breath.

"I've just rejected myself. Weird." Gwen catches up to Rory and says, "I can't imagine what you must think of me right now. I just want you to know what happened between Owen and me is in the past."

"Was it just once or was it an ongoing thing?"

"It was an ongoing thing. It was shortly after I started to work for Jack. I felt so alone with all of those secrets, and I couldn't say anything to the person who was closest to me. Do you have any idea of what that's like?"

"You know, Gwen, sometimes it's helpful to think before the words actually shoot out of your mouth."

Suddenly, Gwen thinks about all of the secrets that Rory has had to keep from her friends. "You're right. I guess your situation is not so different. We obviously deal with things differently-"

"So, do you just go around and shag whoever's available whenever you feel upset?" Rory asks with an eerie serenity.

Gwen can't look at herself anymore. If Rory had been in her real body, her question would just fall under the category of Rory's occasional impertinence. However, hearing it from her own lips make it seem as if it were her own conscious speaking to her about her past misdeeds.

Rory continues, "Well, this is complete shit. I feel like getting upset like a proper human now that I have the opportunity. I feel like shouting, and I can't do that with you looking like Ianto. All I want to do is put my head on his shoulder and give him a big hug."

"I don't think that there's anything that I can say or do to excuse my behavior. I just hope that you won't hold this against Owen. He does care about you."

Jack interrupts them by wedging himself between the two. "Chips?"

Gwen excuses herself, "I should get back to the hub."

"Did you know that she and Owen had an affair?" Rory asks Jack once Gwen is gone. "I know that Owen has slept with a lot of women, and I know that some of those exploits ended badly. But this is someone he knows, someone he sees everyday, someone he has to trust."

"Yes, but you shouldn't be so hard on either of them when the whole thing is ancient history. If it makes you feel any better, I think that affair actually brought me and Ianto together."

"How so?"

"Well, I was disappointed in Gwen when I found out about the two. If she had to have an affair, why did she choose that skinny, scrawny runt-"

"Hey, that runt's still my boyfriend," Rory says giving him a elbow light jab in the ribs. When Jack looks at that face, he doesn't see Gwen. There's an extra bit of mischief and sass in her eyes that spells the difference between the two women.

"Why'd she choose Owen, when she could have had me?" Jack says.

"Ianto was your runner up? I hope you never share that nugget with him."

"It worked out between me and him - better than I thought it would, better than it would have worked out if it were me and Gwen. She needs to have a life away from all of this. It gives her perspective. When the rest of us get cold and technical, she reminds us to be a bit more human. If she and I got together, she might have become hardened and could have lost those qualities that attracted me to her in the first place."

"Are you still attracted to her?"

"Maybe I've always been attracted to the idea of her. When she joined us, she was innocent in a way. She didn't have all the damage the rest of us have incurred which has made us cynical and aloof. That kind of purity combined with her spunk drew me to her. Then again, I became attracted to Ianto because I thought that he understood me better than the rest - maybe it's because we're both alone, maybe it's because neither one of us quite fits in with the rest of the world, maybe it's because no matter what the universe has thrown at him, he can still face each day with a wicked sense of humor. He is not my runner up; he's my reality."

"Then I suggest you take care of that reality."

"Hey, where did my chips go?"

"Sorry, Uncle Jack, but you did offer," Rory replies.

Jack wipes the corner of Gwen's lips with his thumb. "We've got work to do, young lady."

"You lead the way."

Jack offers her his arms which she gracefully accepts. As they enter the tourist office, he asks her, "By the way, what do you know about androids?"

xxxx

As Rory climbs the stairs to the boardroom to get back to work, Owen calls her from below.

She turns around and sighs. "Owen, not now."

"I'm not that man anymore, Rory."

"Tosh and I have a machine to fix. When we're done, we'll talk," she says before climbing the rest of the steps to meet Jack at the landing.

Tosh, Rory and Jack take the device through every diagnostic test they can think of while the rest of the team anxiously take care of the other duties around the hub.

With only minutes before eight o'clock, Ianto peeks inside of the room, looking hopeful. "Any joy?"

"We've managed to replace some of the wiring that was damaged when it tried to pull Jack into its system," Tosh reports.

"Apparently, it didn't like my soul," Jack says.

"Well, your energy is very, very unique. It's just not good enough for the likes of you," Rory says sweetly. Ianto bristles slightly at the sight of Gwen's body pressing against his boyfriend, but the alien reassures him, "Hey, it's me. I don't want him."

"We're still learning how this thing works," Tosh adds. "And we're going to need more time."

Jack walks the Welshman to the cog door and says, "We are trying our best."

"Right."

"You really should get ready for your date."

"I've got the standard equipment in my - well, Tosh's - handbag."

"Now, do you think you can handle him?" Jack asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course."

"Then, go get him, tiger."

"Just so we're clear on the subject, spying on a friend leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

"Interesting choice of words," Jack replies with a devilish smirk on his face. "And Ianto, whatever happens, don't forget your anatomy lesson today."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Just to re-cap. Ianto is still in Toshiko's body. Gwen is in Ianto's body. Tosh is in Rory's body. Rory is in Gwen's body.

* * *

**Chapter Five:**

**The Dinner, The Scorpion and The Waterfall**

Ianto checks Tosh's face in the compact mirror and presses a bit of powder on her nose. He knows that he shouldn't be there. It was a mistake to accept this mission. He turns around and tries to get away.

However, Andy opens the door and immediately scoops him up into his arms. He kisses Ianto warmly, thinking that he's kissing Toshiko's lips. "I'm glad you made it. You look beautiful."

"No, I don't. I've been at work all day, trying to sort out a computer program. I'm afraid I look a bit of a mess."

Andy gives him an Eskimo kiss. "I don't know why you are always so hard on yourself. To me, you always look beautiful. Let me take that from you," he says placing her bag on the end table. "Wine?"

"Er, yes," Ianto replies. Normally, he can drink like a fish, but being in a smaller body means a different metabolism. He tries to remember what Toshiko can tolerate before getting drunk so he can stick to that limit.

Andy hands him a glass of chilled white wine and clinks glasses with him. "Here's to finally spending an evening together."

"Hmm. I like this. What is it?"

"It's your favorite."

"Oh, right. Sorry. I have a bit of a cold. I almost didn't come since you've gone to all the trouble of cooking and I wouldn't be able to enjoy it properly. I also didn't want you to get sick."

"For you, Toshiko, I'd risk it," Andy says, giving him a peck on the lips. "Luckily I have a robust immune system. I never get sick even with the slime of Cardiff breathing down my neck or wheezing in my general direction."

He leads Ianto to the table and pulls out a chair.

When Ianto sits, Andy kisses him on the top of the head. Then, he lights the candles and dims the lights. Ianto looks at the table, and he's touched that the constable went to so much trouble. The meal looks like it took hours to prepare and sits on a table that's been elegantly set.

"The orchids are lovely," he comments, gesturing towards the centerpiece. He remembers that Tosh loves orchids. "They're my favorite."

Andy grins gleefully. "I remembered that, too."

xxxx

Meanwhile, back at the hub, Jack hears a familiar voice call his name. He doesn't look up and automatically replies, "Yes, Ianto?"

"It's me, Gwen. Remember?"

"Yeah. This is ridiculous. We should really get all of you name tags."

"Well, before we get name-tags, there's been a call to the police department from a custodial worker regarding a giant scorpion running about in a school building."

Jack looks at Tosh and Rory and says, "Sorry girls, but I've got work to do."

"Should I come along?" Tosh asks.

Jack takes a look at Rory's face and shakes his head, "I know that you're doing the best you can in an alien body, but I don't want to risk it. You might be better off here working towards resolving this whole mess. Gwen, tell Owen to get the SUV ready."

"What about me?" Gwen asks. "I'm human again."

"You sure you're up to it?"

"Yes. Plus, you may need my help to trap this thing."

Jack smiles at her and says, "Okay, but you be careful with that body. I'm sure Ianto'll want it back in one piece. This is a Code 23. Go grab the appropriate armaments."

Rory meets Owen at the cog door. She grabs his wrist on the way out. "I just wanted to say…"

"Yeah?" he replies impatiently.

"Be careful," she cries as she throws her arms around him.

"Owen! SUV! Now!" Jack barks.

"I'll be back soon, gorgeous," Owen whispers in her ear. "Promise."

"I know," Rory says a little teary eyed. "Just having a human moment."

"Owen!" Jack repeats even louder.

Owen exits the hub with a smile on his face.

Gwen grabs the RAF coat and attempts to help Jack into it. However, the Captain, who has gotten used to Ianto's very choreographed moves, finds himself struggling with the sleeve. He brushes Gwen aside and finishes the job himself.

Jack gives Rory a tender kiss on her forehead and says, "He's a pretty sharp guy. He'll be all right." He pulls Gwen on the invisible lift, and they take off.

Rory goes back into the boardroom with Tosh who stares at the other woman for a moment. It's no surprise to see Gwen in a state of agitation, but Rory is usually so in control that only a traumatic event can shake her up. In that human body, all of the alien's emotions are brought to the surface, making her seem so vulnerable and so clearly uncomfortable.

Rory looks up at her own face staring back at her. "What?" she asks timidly.

"You know, there is something that we haven't tried. What if I were to step into the machine? If I were to do that, what would I see?"

"You'd see the circuits. You'd be able to read the codes that make the software work. You can see whatever you'd like if you know what you're looking for."

"You think you could show me how to use your abilities? Owen said it took you weeks to learn to use your gift."

"Only because I was afraid. I just lost my mother; I recovered my memory; I was almost raped and killed; and I had a huge secret to keep. I had to deal with all of that first," Rory admits "You are going to have to rely on your strength if we're going to do this properly. I need you to understand that you are energy itself, and the longer you make contact with this device, the more it will take from you if you let it."

Tosh smiles at her, "I think I can I do this."

"Okay, then," Rory replies, feeling confident in Tosh. "Let's get started."

xxxx

_So far, so good_, Ianto thinks to himself. Since he started to work for Torchwood, he's observed the team's mannerisms and habits in order to be a good butler to them. The fact that he knows Toshiko so well has been a great advantage. However, to be on the safe side, he lets Andy do most of the talking and asks the occasional question.

"Let me help you with that," Ianto says as he gets up to clear his plate at the end of the meal.

"No, you're a guest here. Sit yourself down and rest. With that cold and all those work emergencies you must feel exhausted."

With Andy in the kitchen, Ianto rummages through Tosh's handbag and finds the monitoring devices that he's supposed to plant. However, his conscious begins to gnaw on him since Andy has been a perfect gentleman. From the moment he stepped in the flat, he's not had to lift a finger which is a strange feeling after having to take care off all of the messes left behind by the rest of the team. Furthermore, he can also imagine forming a friendship with this man. Andy walks back into the room before he has a chance to proceed with his task. Ianto quickly grabs Tosh's powder so that his behavior isn't suspicious.

The PC sits on the couch next to Ianto and pulls Tosh's legs up on his lap. "You've been quiet. You've just let me ramble on about my work week when I know that half my stories aren't terribly interesting to someone in your position."

"Sorry about that. Work problems."

Rather than asking for any more elaboration, he removes Tosh's shoes and begins to massage her feet. "Say no more."

Although Ianto is really enjoying the foot rub, he inquires, "Aren't you curious about it at all?"

"Of course I am," Andy says eagerly. Then, he shrugs and rolls his eyes. "But I thought you didn't like talking about work. So we agreed not to talk about it while we're together."

"Yes, of course."

"I try not to, but I have to admit that sometimes it's difficult not to. Your team is where the action is, where all the rest of us aren't allowed to go, where most people are too frightened to go. You are a real mystery, Toshiko Sato. I can never get a straight answer out of you," Andy replies. "But sometimes when I'm with you I find that I'm not really not in the mood to talk."

Andy leans over and kisses his girlfriend. Ianto tries to think of a plausible excuse to get out of sex without seeming suspicious and without hurting the PC's feelings. _Contagious disease doesn't seem like a problem for him_, he thinks to himself. _It's too late to arrange a convenient work emergency. I could always claim that I'm "not in the mood," but he has bent over backwards to put Tosh in the mood. A headache? That's so cliché… Wow, Andy is not a bad kisser - not as good as Jack - but actually quite good. So what exactly makes him inadequate in bed?_

In the time that it takes Ianto to think of an excuse to get out of sex, Andy moves full speed ahead. After groping her breasts for a bit, Andy's hand moves further south, but the effort feels clumsy and misguided - a sharp contrast to Jack's effort earlier that day. Ianto could just stop the whole process because he's not really Toshiko, and yet, there is a part of him that feels compelled to help the man out and show him what to do. Those feelings don't last very long as Ianto instinctively begins to squirm around until he falls off the couch.

"Are you okay?" Andy says.

Ianto picks himself up and sighs, "Yes. I should go."

"No, you don't have to."

"After these past couple of days, I feel exhausted."

"Did I do something wrong?"

Andy's puppy dog eyes just kill Ianto. The Welshman gives him a longer, slower, more sensuous kiss.

"Wow!" the constable sighs.

"I'll call you, and hopefully this time, I won't be such a stranger. You're a good man, Andy - a very good man."

xxxx

When the team arrives at the school, Owen finds the culprit of the problem. He finds a plant that looks like a water lily with a blue and orange metallic sheen. An empty terrarium sits directly under the plant. "Someone must have brought this plant into the school for a science project. It must be ready for pollination because it's beginning to drip sap all over the place."

"Sap?" Gwen asks.

"Growth serum," the doctor reports after analyzing the sample.

Jack smiles as he looks at the plant. "It's evolutionary genius really. The larvae that feed on the sap grow up to be fully-grown adults in a matter of hours, and then those adults kick around the pollen ensuring the plants survival. It's symbiosis at its best."

"Yeah, except it's highly unstable on Earth organisms," Owen reminds him. "And it looks like Mr. Stingy got a small taste of the juice."

They hear a crashing sound coming from down the hall and Gwen steps closer to it. She almost places a hand on a lab table covered with the sap, but Jack pulls it away. "Careful there. You don't want to come into direct contact with it." He leers at Ianto's crotch for a bit and says, "Sometimes, there is a thing as too big."

Gwen blushes at the attention, until the team hears another noise.

Owen opens up the equipment box and finds several grenades. "Now this is just my opinion, but I think that the headmaster would like his building to remain intact."

Jack picks one of them up and says, "I thought I said code 23. Code 23 means armament box number 16b. That's where we keep the big net."

"Why can't you just say get the big net? Do you really expect me to keep all those codes straight when they change all of the time?" Gwen yells.

Jack bites his tongue, but it doesn't matter since Owen speaks for him, "Ianto does."

"Well, I'm not bloody Ianto, am I?" she growls.

"You think they've got an extra football net in the locker room?" Owen asks.

"Good idea," Jack says. "You go take a look while we track down this beast."

Jack and Gwen walk around searching for the missing class pet until they eventually reach the cafeteria.

The Captain calls Owen over the Comm, "Looks like the big guy is hungry. Hurry up with the equipment."

Inside the cafeteria, they find a scene right out of a 1950's b-movie. "Oh, my God," Gwen whispers as she sees the six foot long creature trying to break down the door the kitchen. They try to assess the situation, but they find themselves distracted by a noise. Gwen shines her torch down the hallway and finds a custodial worker with massive biceps who is bawling his eyes out.

Gwen reaches out to him, "It's okay, sweetheart. We'll take care of it."

The custodian looks up at the well-dressed Welshman and jumps away in a rush of gay panic. "I'm not on your team, mate," he says in a gruff voice.

"Well, my team member is already spoken for, and what a member it is," Jack says with a wink.

Owen catches up to them with the net. "Found it." He takes a needle out of his kit, "Who's doing the honors?"

"That would be me," Jack replies. He turns to the custodian. "Now, unlock those doors."

The team enters quietly and tries to sneak up on the scorpion.

"I'll use myself as bait. Owen, go for its left side, and Ian …" He looks at Gwen with a flustered expression on his face. "You, take its right."

Jack steps closer to the scorpion, provoking it with a broom handle. Soon, it turns its attention from the locked kitchen to the delicious Captain in front of it. Jack leads it to the middle of the room, keeping an eye on the stinger which seems poised for an attack. Owen tosses one end of the net over to Gwen. The two of them try to pin it down, but the scorpion cuts through the netting with its pincer and its mandible. As it tries to shake off the netting, the angry bug uses its tail to smack Gwen against the wall, knocking her unconscious.

"That's my boyfriend, you son of a bitch!" Jack yells as he jumps on the insect's back. The angry bug begins to buck like a wild horse, but the Captain quickly finds a weak spot and stabs it with the needle. The scorpion squeals as it throws Jack off its back. It crawls angrily towards Owen trying to grab him with its pincers, but the sedative takes effect and it collapses just before it can do any more damage.

Jack gets up and shake his head. Seeing Ianto's body slumped against the wall, he runs towards him, "No, no, no, no!"

Owen rushes next to Gwen and examines her. When he shines a pen light in her eyes, she wakes up and swats him away. The doctor rolls his eyes.

"Don't try to get up," Jack says. "You may have a concussion. Can you speak?"

"Jack? Oh, my head," she replies.

Jack brushes his thumb against Ianto's lips and kisses him gently. In her stupor, Gwen holds the Captain tightly and kisses him passionately. "Well, hello Mr. Jones!" Jack says with a wicked smile.

"Er, Jack?"

"Yes, Owen?"

"Not Ianto."

"Dammit!" he shouts. He looks up at the doctor, "He's already mad at me. Promise not to tell?"

"As long as you promise not to get weird about me and Rory."

"She's like my daughter, but I can try. Just make her happy. Sit here and take care of Gwen while I shrink this bad boy down to size," Jack says.

Owen nods and turns his attention to his hurt colleague.

As Jack waits for the antidote for the serum to take effect, he pulls out his phone and dials.

xxxx

Ianto is in the aisle of a sex shop when he answers his phone. "Yes, Jack?… There were some small complications that I'll explain to you later. How was your evening?… Really? I can't tell you just how much I would have rather been there tonight… No, I don't need an address. I know where it is… That's not screeching; that's the Yeah Yeah Yeahs - one of their earlier songs… If I told you where I was, you'd only get excited and start rattling off a long shopping list. I'd never get out of here… See you soon."

He grabs a vibrator off of the shelf and heads for the cash register where the clerk lazily flips through a fetish magazine. "Would you mind ringing this up some time this evening?" he asks.

"Oh, my! Aren't we in a hurry to get off?" the clerk retorts with a smirk as she saunters to the register.

xxxx

In a relaxation exercise, Tosh imagines herself standing at the edge of a river and staring at a waterfall. She kneels down and cups her hand, dipping it in the water and bringing it up to her lips for a sip. She takes off her sandals and dips her feet into the cool stream.

"Are you ready, Toshiko?" Rory asks.

Tosh nods.

Rory stands behind Toshiko and whispers in her ear. "In case you get scared, picture that waterfall and center yourself. You are in control." She places her hand on the device and continues, "Just reach around until you feel the spark."

Toshiko moves the hand of the alien body along the buttons and gasps when she feels the electric current shoot through her body. Suddenly, the device sucks her inside, and Tosh finds herself floating in space staring at motherboard which appears like a giant monolith before her. While her other senses are intact, she can't feel her body. She looks up and is startled to see Rory's body hovering over the device lost in a trance-like state.

_This must be what it feels like to be paralyzed_, Toshiko thinks. _I can't feel. I can't speak. I can't scream._

She wills herself to picture herself in the waterfall until she feels calm enough to complete her mission. She looks up again. Gwen's face comes into view, but Tosh knows that it's Rory that is standing with her, smiling at her, guiding her through the process, encouraging her to move forward.

"You are the light in the machine, Toshiko. Anything you want to know will be revealed to you when you shine your light on it."

Tosh pictures a beam of light relaying through all of the circuits and as it does, she can read a long stretches of data scrolling across her field of vision.

Rory murmurs, "It's just like going through a dark cave with a torch - kind of what explorers must have felt when they came upon those primitive cave drawings in France."

Tosh can't feel herself smile, but she knows she's happy. She's excited to see this piece of technology from the inside.

"Just take your time, and when you're done, pull yourself back into my body. I'll be here waiting."

Tosh continues her search, learning more about the device at every turn. She figures out the sequence that extracts the souls out of their bodies and returns them. However, she also learns what really must have frightened the alien when she tried to scan the device for the first time. The device becomes aware of Rory's unique energy and tries to feed itself off of it.

Tosh imagines herself back at the waterfall. She jumps in the stream and swims against the current to a cave behind the wall of water. Yet, with every stroke, she finds herself going nowhere, so she sinks below the water's surface and keeps swimming until she knows that she's made it. However, when she resurfaces, she finds herself zipping along the neural pathways of the body while trying to fight the pull herself out of the device. She gasps as she finally arrives back into Rory's brain and regains her sense of touch.

However, Rory does not let Tosh take her hand off the device. "Don't let go until it's gone dark. Leave no trace of energy behind."

Tosh nods and follows her instructions. Once, she's done, she collapses in her chair in exhaustion. Rory offers her a glass of water and a bunch of grapes.

"I know what to do," Tosh says happily.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**Making Things Right**

Jack does his best to try to straighten up the mess left behind by the scorpion. Luckily most of the furniture survived, but some of the equipment in the science classroom is damaged beyond repair. Hearing a knock at the door, Jack looks up at Toshiko's face, but is instantly delighted to know that Ianto is with him. "Now what kind of teacher has a scorpion as a class pet?"

"That would be Mr. Gallagher - a bit odd, but a decent teacher. When I was his student, he kept a tarantula," Ianto replies.

"This was your school?"

"I used to sit in the back of the room. Right over there."

"I thought that all the best students sat up front."

"You know I wasn't one of the best," Ianto says. Jack has to laugh because the statement sounds so odd hearing it come out of Tosh's mouth.

"How old were you?"

"Twelve or thirteen, I think."

"I can just picture you back then - bored out of your mind because you were smarter than the rest of them."

"Something like that."

Jack takes a break and sits in what used to be Ianto's old seat. "Now what kind of student was Ianto Jones? Class clown?"

"On certain occasions."

"Mr. Popularity?"

"That would be a resounding no."

"One of the quiet types, just waiting for something to happen?"

"If I knew then…"

"What would you change?"

"Absolutely nothing."

"Not even the past couple of days?" Jack asks as he slips behind his boyfriend. He places his hands on Toshiko's hips.

"I might be highly tempted to do that, but maybe not."

"I missed you tonight," Jack murmurs.

Ianto chuckles cynically. "Missed me? Ianto Jones? Or are you thinking of someone else?"

"I missed you, Mr. Jones. From the moment this mission started, I kept wishing you were with me. Gwen has her talents, but there are some things that only you can accomplish."

"You mean my amazing memory for all of your absurd codes?" he asks, kicking the armament box with Tosh's shoe. "Now, why would she get the idea that a Code 23 meant armament box 23? Everyone in their right mind knows that a Code 23 means box 16b," he jokes.

"All right, already. I'll rethink the system."

"I'll take care of that. You are a brave man, but your organizational skills are shit."

"That's why I need you," Jack murmurs.

Ianto smirks and decides to fish a little. "Is that all you need from me?"

"I need your coffee, your amazing love-making skills -"

"As long as you call out the right name."

"I also need your sense of humor, your counsel, your support, your strength, your humanity." Jack takes a deep breath and holds him closely, "I know that I never tell you these things, but maybe I should."

"Thank you for saying it. You have no idea how much it means to me to hear it from your lips," Ianto says gently.

"I mean it."

"I know," Ianto replies. "Come on. We've got work to do."

xxxx

When the team arrives back at the hub, Tosh and Rory are sitting on the couch, sharing a pizza and giggling. Gwen staggers into the room and practically sits on her own body.

As Gwen speaks, the drugs that Owen injected into Ianto's body are obviously affecting her thought process. "Rory, I just want you to know how sorry I am that I let Rhys sleep with your body. That was rude and disrespectful and …rude. I'm also sorry that I sleep… sleep… slept with Owen. Yeah, slept. Best sex I've ever had, but it was wrong, very wrong… so very… very wrong. No, I take that back, best sex I've had was in your body. I mean, wow." She pauses for a few seconds. "But that was wrong too… but, it was fun."

The girls both look at the rest of the team with confused expressions.

"Owen got a little carried away with the pain medication," Ianto explains.

Neither Tosh nor Rory says a word. They both get up and stand in front of Jack, looking at him with big smiles plastered on their face. Then, they switch places.

Jack examines them very closely. He turns to the alien body and says, "Rory?"

"The one and only." She leaps into his arms, and he swings her around.

"You fixed it?" Ianto says with delight.

"Tosh figured out how it works," Rory replies. "I think we make a pretty sweet team. Tosh is brilliant at software."

"And Rory rules the hardware," Tosh adds.

"Is that really you?" Owen asks his girlfriend.

She flashes him a sly smile and a come-hither look. "What do you think?"

The doctor suddenly gets goose bumps. "Yeah, that's you."

"Everyone not in their right bodies in the boardroom, now!" Jack orders.

"Wait," Ianto cries. "What about my body? I'm pretty out of it right now."

"I'm fine!" Gwen says. She gets up and takes a few steps before falling into Jack's arms. "You are just a big slice of beefcake," she says as she grabs his ass.

"Let's go!" Ianto says, rushing up the stairs.

xxxx

While the others switch back, Rory and Owen sit in the hothouse. She watches him classify the plant and helps him place it in a safe container.

"I got a message from my mum earlier today," Owen tells her.

"Did you?"

"She wants to meet you, and before you get all mushy and start to squee, she only said that because she found out that you are an heiress."

Rory rolls her eyes and smirks. "Do I ever get mushy?"

"You did earlier today before I left. You looked genuinely worried."

"I always worry. Maybe I don't get all hysterical like Gwen, but I do worry… about all of you."

"Are we okay?" he asks.

She frowns and looks into his eyes. "What happened with you and Gwen is in the past, but how could you do that to Rhys?"

"The truth is I wasn't thinking about him. I didn't even know him."

"Do you have any idea of how selfish that sounds?" The tone of her voice is neither caustic nor inflammatory. It's filled with sad disappointment which rips Owen's heart out.

"Yeah, I do," the doctor insists.

"The Owen I know - the Owen I am falling in love with - is sarcastic, and at times, he's rude. He pretends not to care even though the opposite is true. He's passionate and will do whatever it takes to save this world. He also knows how painful loss and betrayal can be. I want to love that man, not someone who can be so cavalier with other people's feelings."

"I'd like to be that man."

"Where do things stand with Gwen?"

"She's my co-worker and she's got my back. I will say that I do care about her, but she also drives me crazy."

"She has that effect on me as well, but even I have to admit, she's cute."

With his best poker face, he says, "That tight arse and that beautiful smile do nothing for me anymore."

"Well, then, for a second there I was worried," she replies sarcastically.

"I'm into alien life forms right now - you know, those glow in the dark types with killer legs, great tits…" He lifts her up on a table and gently parts her legs. "And sweet, little c-"

"Get a room!" Jack groans. "At least one outside of the hub."

"Hey, Uncle Jack," Rory says awkwardly.

"Owen, time for you to go home."

The doctor helps her off the table, and they walk hand in hand behind Jack. When they reach the R&R area, Ianto, who is now back into his own medicated body, is handing a very embarrassed Toshiko a vibrator.

"You have to show him what to do because personally, I don't think he knows what he's doing. I promise you he won't feel threatened by this. It's even called 'The Rabbit,' and it has a pink bunny on it with ears to massage your special spot. Who can be scared of a cute, little bunny? You can call it Thumper… like in _Bambi_…"

"Okay, Ianto," Jack says. "Time for bed."

"Okay, lover," he purrs as he begins to take off his tie. "You know, in _Bambi_, was Flower really a girl? Oh my God, that would make her a lesbian. Disney has got lesbians in their pictures…"

"Just remember he'll have a massive headache tomorrow along with some very nasty bruises," Owen reminds him. "I'm also restricting his duties for the next few days."

"Wait!" Ianto says dramatically. "Why do the lesbians have to be skunks? Why can't they be the bunnies?"

Jack escorts Ianto to their bedroom. As soon as they are out of earshot, the rest of the team laughs.

"Oh, boy, I have got to get home," Gwen says. "Rhys will be waiting."

"Good luck with that," Rory replies.

Gwen isn't certain if the alien is being sincere or sarcastic, but she thanks her before she leaves.

Tosh picks up her present from Ianto, "So how do I work this into a conversation?"

"You've never gotten yourself off in front of a guy?" Rory asks.

"No," she admits.

"It's actually very hot," Owen says.

"Well, here's what you do. Just sit on his lap and get a little touchy-feely." Rory sits on Toshiko's lap. She runs her fingers along Tosh's earlobe and down her neck. "Challenge him to a game of pool. If he wins, you do whatever he wants. If you win, then you get to choose which games to play."

Just when Tosh believed her face couldn't get any redder, it does. "But he's a very good player."

"That's why you have to sit on his lap." Rory touches the computer expert very lightly on her collarbone and whispers, "And it helps if you rub the cue stick a little when he's making a shot."

"Home, then?" Owen squeaks.

Rory springs to her feet with a completely innocent smile, "Yes, please! See you, Tosh!"

"Bye guys," she replies. She looks at the vibrator and installs the batteries. Her eyes grow wide as she turns it on.

xxxx

Gwen sighs in relief when she gets home. She looks into the bedroom where Rhys has already fallen asleep and cheerfully goes through her bedtime routine. No matter what happens in the morning, she'll enjoy this bit of peace. Any residual awkwardness from her actions from the night before will have to wait. All she wants to do is slip into her warm bed with the man she loves and not think about anything. She wraps her arm around his chest and snuggles into his back.

"Ianto, what the fuck?" Rhys yells as he jumps out of bed.

"Rhys, it's me, Gwen. I'm not Ianto!" The number of times she's had to say that today strikes her as absurd.

"Gwen?" He looks at her for a moment. "How can I be sure that's you?"

"Because you'll never admit to anyone but me that you cried at the end of _Titanic_," she replies. "And that you like that Celine Dion song."

"Fair enough, and promise me you'll never repeat that information out loud ever again. So you're you again?"

"Yes. No longer alien," she mutters. "You have no idea of how happy I am to be home."

"Really?" Rhys says suspiciously.

"Yes, really," Gwen insists. "You have no idea just how difficult the past couple of days have been. Not just the body swapping, but I have never felt so untalented in my life. Rory is a mechanical genius. Tosh knows computers forwards and backwards. Owen is a medical ace. Ianto's ability to recall the most useful, yet random information is so good it's spooky, and Jack - well, he's good at so many things. I couldn't even comfort a victim today, which happens to be what I thought I did best."

"So you're having a rough patch. It'll pass."

"They're all so brilliant in tangible ways and so in control."

"Hey, you are an amazing woman, and they should be glad to have you on their team. Now, we should both get to sleep."

The two get back into bed and Rhys holds her. However, a thought continues to nag her. "Rhys? About last night…"

"Yes?"

"Are you sorry it happened?"

"It was an experience, but I'm glad to have you back."

"Really?" Gwen asks.

"If I can't cuddle with you afterwards, what's the point?"

Gwen sighs happily as she closes her eyes, but after a few seconds they pop open once again. "Do you think she's prettier than I am?"

Rhys refuses to answer and replies in a very sweet voice, "Gwen, for the love of God, will you shut up and go to sleep?"

xxxx

As Jack walks around the hub performing his boyfriend's normal duties, he becomes aware that Ianto's presence is felt in every room and in every corner. He even begins to wonder why his boyfriend keeps paying rent for a flat that he hardly sees. Jack peeks into some of the empty spaces in the hub next the bedroom they built together and imagines how Ianto's furniture would look in those rooms. But he's already asked the man to sacrifice so much for their working relationship, not to mention their romantic relationship. Is it selfish for him to want his boyfriend to live with him in what his niece refers to as a hole in the ground, further isolating him from a normal life?

Jack has contemplated getting a house before and even made attempts to live outside the hub, but he always ends up feeling like a visitor or a misfit. Perhaps years of having to spend his life as an immortal out of his time have taken their toll. Perhaps it has more to do with his commitment to his job since he's taken over Torchwood Three. His job is, after all, a twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week obligation. And yet, no one understands this better than Ianto, who once devoted himself to Lisa's care at the expense of his own comfort and social life.

Jack goes back to his bedroom where Ianto sleeps in their ridiculously comfortable sheets, which are of a better quality than the Welshman has in his own flat. Jack undresses and slips into the bed next to the man he loves more than he should. As he watches the rise and fall of Ianto's chest, a small voice inside the Captain's head tells him, that in spite of all reason, this is where his lover belongs no matter what shape he's in. Jack leans over and gives Ianto a goodnight kiss on his cheek. He decides that tonight he will sleep and maybe even dream of a conventional life that he will never have.

* * *

**A/N:** Yes, their bedroom is a reference to "The Bed" - another one of my stories. I am planning one more chapter. I can't end this story without a little more Janto.


	7. Chapter 7

_Thank you for your kind reviews and for adding this story to you alerts and your favorites. I almost gave up on it after I posted the first chapter since people didn't seem to be reading it, but the reviews kept me going._

* * *

**Chapter Seven:**

**Appreciation**

The next day, Jack stops at Gwen's station and asks, "Did you send that report to the Cardiff police?"

"Just putting on the finishing touches," Gwen replies.

Jack nods stiffly. He can barely look her in the eye. "I should check on Ianto."

"Did I do something wrong?" she asks Tosh.

"You told everyone that you slept with Rhys whilst in Rory's body," she replies. "He did not need to know that."

Owen snickers from his station as Gwen's head hits her desk_._

xxxx

Ianto wakes up in Jack's bed. The fact that he's naked doesn't surprise him since he's gotten used to sleeping in the nude and probably undressed himself. However, he looks at the clock and is shocked to discover that it is almost noon, but as much as he'd like to jump out of bed, his head aches, and his body is sore. On the other hand, he is overjoyed that he's in his own body, and no amount of pain can stop him from enjoying this moment.

_This is my hand, my arm, my face, my chest_. He lifts up the sheet. _This is my cock_.

Jack walks into the room and catches Ianto in the act of admiring his own anatomy. "You know, I'm a big fan of your little butler myself."

"My little butler?"

"Stands erect when called into service and is always eager to please," Jack replies with a smug grin. He kisses Ianto's lips very gently before giving him a glass of water and a pair of pills.

Ianto eyes the medication suspiciously. "I trust that this won't affect my better judgment."

"It's just extra-strength aspirin," Jack replies.

"You let me sleep in."

"Doctor's orders. He said you need your rest today."

"What about my duties?"

"Let us take care of them for once," Jack insists.

"And as soon as I get out of bed, I'll find the hub littered with trash and the archives completely out of order."

"Hey, have a little faith. We're not completely lost without you."

Ianto raises an eyebrow.

"All right, we'll muddle through today the best we can. Your standards aren't easy to live up to," the Captain concedes.

"Thank you."

Jack sits on the bed next to Ianto. "I tried the surveillance equipment this morning to check up on Andy's computer, and I ended up getting the GPS on your car instead."

"I couldn't go through with the mission."

"Any reason?"

"I don't think that we have any cause for concern. Tosh has Andy eating out of the palm of her hand."

"Does she?"

"Yes. He treats her well and respects her privacy…"

"And?"

"And… last night was the most romantic date I've had in weeks."

"Is that so?" Jack asks with mock indignation.

"He had candlelight, soft music, her favorite flowers, her favorite wine, a Lebanese dish that must have taken him some time to prepare. I also got a foot massage at the end of the meal."

"Sounds boring."

"It _was _conventional, but it was a lovely sentiment."

"We've done that before," Jack says.

"Well, you didn't cook, which isn't entirely a bad thing-"

"Thanks a lot."

"And as I recall, I bought the wine and the candles."

"I was busy that day trying to stop a group of alien vampires."

"I know. I was there right beside you," Ianto retorts. "And I also didn't get the foot massage that night."

"What you got was better than a foot massage," Jack says as he nuzzles on Ianto's neck. "So what did you have to do to repay him for all that romance?"

"I didn't have to do a thing."

"No?"

"Well, not for his lack of trying, but I was strong."

"You told me what happened last night after the switch, while you were medicated. You also gave Tosh a vibrator last night. When I called you last night, were you at the sex shop?" Jack teases.

Ianto closes his eyes and grimaces not from pain, but from sheer embarrassment. "I had hoped to give her that in private or even had Rory give it to her."

"I can't believe that a man in this day and age needs a little instruction. You people are more backward than I thought."

"Some men are shy in that department, or the women they're seeing are too shy to help. This is Tosh we're talking about. Unfortunately, she has no idea of how sexy she is."

"While you were at the shop, did you pick up anything for me?"

"Me, me, me," Ianto sighs.

However, the next few days aren't about Jack at all. He makes sure that Ianto is taken care of as his body heals. The Captain delegates his heavier duties to the rest of the staff, including the more troublesome and unpleasant clean-up operations. Having to take care of these tasks themselves make the staff more appreciative of Ianto's role.

xxxx

On her next evening with Andy, Toshiko finds a new reason to appreciate Ianto. She kisses Andy as he carries her to the bed. He watches her face intently as he gently undoes the buttons of her blouse.

However, just as he gets her excited, he stops. "Am I a good lover?"

"You're lovely," she insists.

"What man wants to hear that he is 'lovely' in bed? Next thing you'll tell me is that my dick is nice."

"What's wrong?"

"That night I made you dinner, I got the feeling that you didn't really want me when I…"

Suddenly it dawns on her that Andy speaks of the night she was still in Rory's body. "When you what?"

"When I was kissing you, when I was touching you, I thought that maybe you weren't too into it. I got the feeling that I was doing it wrong. I never even got my pants off before you bolted out the door."

"Oh." Tosh realizes that's why she got that gift from Ianto.

Andy slumps on the head board having lost all the wind in his sails. "I have been with my fair share of women, but they might have been faking for all I know."

"You know, Andy, sometimes I'm not very good at asking for what I want, but I think I can show you."

"Yeah?"

After summoning up her courage, Tosh pulls out the Rabbit and hands it to Andy.

"I'm game if you are," she says with a coy smile.

He blushes when he turns it on. "I've never done anything like this."

"As a police officer, you're used to doing things by the book, but I'm a scientist. I believe in experimentation," Tosh replies.

xxxx

The day after, Tosh waltzes into the tourist office where Ianto is straightening up the displays. He smiles at her and says, "Good morning. How was your evening?"

"You had dinner with Andy, didn't you? You were going to spy on us, weren't you?"

"Look, Tosh, Jack was worried that Andy might -"

"You kissed my boyfriend. I should be angry at you."

"Tosh, he thought I was you, and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. But I promised that nothing happened between the two of us."

The mathematical whiz gives the Welshman a huge hug. "Thank you so much."

"For what?"

"The Rabbit. The advice. For being such a good friend. I know that you were looking out for me."

"So I take it things went well with Andy last night."

"It was awkward at first, but that little pink bunny can work some serious magic. And then Andy got very turned on, and we lost all inhibitions. I even got a bit bossy."

"Did he like it?"

Tosh doesn't say a word. Her satisfied grin says everything.

xxxx

A few days after the body switching incident, Gwen drags Rhys to the bookstore and piles books about engineering, electronics and computers into his arms.

"Are you seriously going to read all of this?" he asks.

"Don't you think I need to learn something? Even Owen is better at this stuff than I am."

"He's been at that place longer than you have. I'm sure he's picked up a thing or two over the years."

Gwen puts one more book on the pile and Rhys says, "That's it."

He leaves the pile with Gwen and wanders off to the cookbook section where he finds Rory flipping through a copy of _I Like You: Entertaining Under the Influence _by Amy Sedaris. He tries to play it cool, but becomes instantly fixated by the short skirt she's wearing. When she catches him ogling her legs, she is initially creeped out by his gaze, but is also inexplicably drawn to him as if she knows him.

"Personally, I'm into Jamie Oliver," Rhys says with a flirty grin. "You know, _Naked Chef_ and all that."

"This really isn't a cookbook. It should really be in the humor section," she replies. The signals that she sends out are also mixed. While she smiles and plays with her hair, she also tries to get away from him. Rory bumps into Owen who returns to her side after finding a book for himself in the fiction section.

Owen nods briefly at Rhys and asks his girlfriend. "You find what you're looking for?"

"I think I did," she says, feeling relieved that the doctor is by her side.

Owen kisses her possessively while looking at Rhys. He takes her hand and pulls her away from Gwen's boyfriend. Rhys watches Rory's ass as she walks away until he hears Gwen clear her throat.

"I was just, em… you know… are you done yet?" he stammers.

While waiting in the queue to pay for her book, Rory notices Gwen in the store. "Was that Rhys?"

"Yeah," Owen replies.

"He's kind of cute… in a schlubby sort of way."

"You wouldn't like him. You'd have to dumb down everything for him."

"I never mess with happy couples."

"Are you ever going to forgive me? You know, sometimes I wish you'd just have it out with me," Owen says.

"What do you want me to do? Shout? There's no point to getting all riled up about Gwen," Rory replies. She pauses for a bit. "Although, if you really want me to punish you…"

xxxx

Later that evening, Owen finds himself blind-folded, naked and tied down to a chair in Rory's study. Suddenly, he hears music. He recognizes the song and laughs at the appropriate choice. Rory takes off the blindfold, and he looks around. The heavy drapes are drawn and the rooms is lit by candles, and she is dressed like a smutty and slightly goth doll. She begins to strip for him slowly, swinging her hips along the music as Allison Goldfrapp sings "Strict Machine":

_I get high on a buzz, then a rush  
When I'm plugged in you  
I connect when I'm flush  
You get love when told what to do_

She places a foot on his thigh and rolls a stocking off of her leg. Unable to move, Owen watches helplessly as he grows hard. She touches him every now and again, but it's like offering a parched man a drop of water. He struggles against the ropes, but the knots won't give an inch.

_I'm in love with a strict machine_

Owen sits back and thinks to himself, _Join the bleedin' club_.

When she finally cuts him loose, he bolts out of the chair and ravishes her on the antique desk. He wants nothing more than to wipe the smirk off her face and make her delirious with pleasure. However, even in the throes of passion, Rory can't stop engineering. Rather than being frightened by his aggression, she's fascinated by it and whispers to him in Spanish, knowing full well that he can't speak the language. He takes out his frustrations with harder thrusts, which is exactly what she wants. She is becoming addicted to the energy that he gives her.

And afterwards, when she's through being the brat he takes pleasure in, as she spoon feeds him gelato, she offers him that calm feeling he craves by showering him with the warmth and affection that he never thought he could have again.

xxxx

On the same evening, Jack arrives at Ianto's flat, dressed in a classic navy blue double-breasted suit which he inspects in every reflective surface that he encounters. He feels silly for being so nervous, but he needs the date to go smoothly if he's going to convince Ianto to move into the hub. He anxiously knocks on the door.

When Ianto opens it, he has to catch his breath when he sees his boyfriend, which greatly pleases Jack.

"Are you ready?" Jack asks.

"Yeah," Ianto replies.

Jack takes him to a small and intimate French restaurant that allows the younger man to show off his impressive language skills. After a glorious meal and the best champagne in the house, they go to a jazz club where the bandleader announces that the song "Our Love Is Here to Stay" is dedicated to Ianto from his very faithful Jack. The younger man pulls him out to the dance floor.

"This should be our song," Jack says.

"I thought you always liked Cole Porter," Ianto replies. "I thought 'Night and Day' was our song."

"Hey, I'm the Captain, and I also like Gershwin. I also say we can have as many songs as we'd like."

Ianto presses his cheek against Jack's, and small smile forms on his lips as he looks around at the room and notices the envy written on the faces of men and women alike. Jack doesn't notice this at all; he's too busy singing into Ianto's ear and enjoying the dance. After a few more slow dances, the pair sits down, and a handsome waiter tries to flirt with Jack.

Rather than rolling his eyes in jealousy, Ianto whispers in Jack's ear, "You know, if I had to switch bodies with someone, why couldn't it be him? I hear blondes have more fun."

The older man laughs and replies, "Hey, most blondes I know don't have half the fun we do." Jack spots a man with smoldering eyes, leading his girlfriend to the dance floor. "What about the guy with the red-head? He must have a serious body underneath that suit."

"If you like those muscle-bound varieties…"

"What's wrong with that?"

Ianto holds up a pinkie and gives Jack a knowing look.

Jack takes another gander at the man's crotch. "Are you sure?"

"Trust me. First of all, I've always been good at sizing up men, and furthermore, most men in this day and age don't look like that without the help of steroids."

"Point taken. Besides, you are much hotter than he is."

"Did you mean it when you said that you would do whatever it takes to spend forever with me?" Ianto asks.

Jack takes Ianto's hand and says, "It's just so rare to find someone that I can feel completely comfortable around, but I want you to know that I would never ask you to keep switching bodies just so I can keep you by my side."

Ianto kisses Jack's hand and holds it against his heart, wishing that he could find the right words. The rational side of him is relieved, but the emotional side never wants to leave the immortal man alone. If given the opportunity, if he had to make a gut decision one day, he can only hope that he will make the right choice.

"I also want you to know every day I fall in love with you a little bit more," Jack whispers.

After what Jack feels is an eternity but in reality is only a matter of seconds, Ianto places his hands behind his lover's neck to pull him in for a kiss.

"I love you, too, Jack." Ianto murmurs.

Jack happily kisses Ianto once again. "Let's go home."

The two men walk out of the club, holding hands.

xxxx

Back at the hub, they are greeted by Myfanwy who glides contentedly through the room.

"Hold on," Ianto says as he takes off his jacket and places it on the back of a chair. He takes a dark chocolate bar from Gwen's desk.

"Hey that's stealing!" the Captain jokes.

"I'll pay her back later." Ianto takes the wrapper off the candy bar and starts cooing, "How's my sweet pterodactyl?"

She chirps in response and hovers over Ianto. He tosses the chocolate in the air as high as he can, and Jack watches in amazement as Myfanwy catches it in her beak. The older man claps enthusiastically.

"That little trick is the result of too many late nights at the hub," the Welshman says as he licks the chocolate off of his fingers.

"Are you complaining?"

"No," Ianto says softly.

"Stay with me."

"I intend to."

Jack places his arms around Ianto's waist. "Not just the night. I mean permanently. I want you to live with me."

Ianto is stunned by the apprehension in his lover's eyes.

"I'd be much happier with you here," Jack continues. "Myfanwy would be happier."

"She is sort of our baby, isn't she?"

"This place might not be very homey, but it's what I have to offer."

"This place already feels like home. My lease is up next month anyway."

"Really?" Jack feels his heart beating so fast that it might just leap out of his chest and take a victory lap around the hub.

"Yep." Ianto puts his hands underneath the Captain's jacket and slides it off. "Is it bedtime?" he asks.

"Are you sleepy?"

"No."

"Neither am I," Jack replies with a wink. "First one to the bedroom gets to be on top."

Both men race to the room, but Jack lets Ianto win. The Captain runs around the room and over the bed as the younger man chases him. The men laugh heartily and discard their clothes in a dirty game of tag until Ianto tackles the older man onto the bed and kisses him fiercely.

"Tell me you love me," Ianto insists.

"I love you, Mr. Jones," Jack replies. "Now, show me how much you love me."

Ianto caresses Jack's legs as he puts them over his shoulders, and staring deeply into his lover's eyes, he makes love to the older man slowly and gently.

After all of his sexual adventures, only this sort of intimacy frightens Jack because while giving someone his body seems perfectly natural, giving someone his heart makes him feel vulnerable. Yet, he gives in willingly, wanting to make this relationship work, hoping he can make Ianto happy, knowing that Ianto feels the same way.

As for the Welshman, he feels lucky that Jack asked him to move in, that he has a boyfriend who, despite all of his flaws, makes him feel valued and loved. He feels lucky that he has a life that, in spite of all of its danger, is better than anything that he ever dreamed of as a boy. And he's just so happy to be a man again.

THE END


End file.
